Feds Bust Texas Forex Traders

DALLAS (CN) – A Flower Mound, Texas couple swiped $350,000 from their supposed foreign-exchange trading business and lied to their customers about it, the Commodity Futures Trading Commision says.

The CFTC sued Linda Faye Harris, Chance Domel Harris and their businesses, DCH Forex Investments and CDH Global Holdings, in Federal Court. It accuses the Harrises of “fraudulent solicitation, misappropriation and misrepresentations to investors and regulatory organizations, in connection with the trading of off-exchange foreign currency contracts,” from August 2008. Among its charges, the CFTC says the Harrises claimed, falsely, that they had made as much as 646 percent annual returns on their forex investments. In fact, the agency says, they “misappropriated approximately $350,000 of CDH Investors money to pay for personal expenses,” including rent, credit-card bills, and to lease a BMW. They were also lousy traders, the CFTC says, losing $795,000 of the $1.87 million they managed, while taking $150,000 in commissions. The CFTC seeks disgorgement, penalties and an injunction.